Polybius, Histories

Translation

Book 36 - Chapter 1

<head lang="la">A. Olymp. 157, 3. I. Bellum Punicum Tertium</head><w lemma="%2A%29%2Fisws">Ἴσως</w> <w lemma="de%2F">δέ</w> <w lemma="tines">τινες</w> <w lemma="e%29pizhtou%3Dsi">ἐπιζητοῦσι</w> <w lemma="pw%3Ds">πῶς</w> <w lemma="h%28mei%3Ds">ἡμεῖς</w> <w lemma="ou%29k">οὐκ</w> <w lemma="e%29n">ἐν</w> <w lemma="a%29gwni%2Fsmati">ἀγωνίσματι</w> <w lemma="kexrh%2Fmeqa">κεχρήμεθα</w> <w lemma="profero%2Fmenoi">προφερόμενοι</w> <w lemma="tou%5Cs">τοὺς</w> <w lemma="kata%5C">κατὰ</w> <w lemma="me%2Fros">μέρος</w> <w lemma="lo%2Fgous">λόγους</w>, <w lemma="toiau%2Fths">τοιαύτης</w> <w lemma="u%28poqe%2Fsews">ὑποθέσεως</w> <w lemma="e%29peilhmme%2Fnoi">ἐπειλημμένοι</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="thlikau%2Fths">τηλικαύτης</w> <w lemma="pra%2Fcews:">πράξεως·</w>

<w lemma="o%28%2Fper">ὅπερ</w> <w lemma="oi%28">οἱ</w> <w lemma="plei%3Dstoi">πλεῖστοι</w> <w lemma="poiou%3Dsi">ποιοῦσι</w> <w lemma="tw%3Dn">τῶν</w> <w lemma="suggrafe%2Fwn">συγγραφέων</w>, <w lemma="ei%29s">εἰς</w> <w lemma="a%29mfo%2Ftera">ἀμφότερα</w> <w lemma="ta%5C">τὰ</w> <w lemma="me%2Frh">μέρη</w> <w lemma="diatiqe%2Fmenoi">διατιθέμενοι</w> <w lemma="tou%5Cs">τοὺς</w> <w lemma="e%29no%2Fntas">ἐνόντας</w> <w lemma="lo%2Fgous">λόγους</w>.

<w lemma="e%29gw%5C">ἐγὼ</w> <w lemma="de%5C">δὲ</w> <w lemma="dio%2Fti">διότι</w> <w lemma="me%5Cn">μὲν</w> <w lemma="ou%29k">οὐκ</w> <w lemma="a%29podokima%2Fzw">ἀποδοκιμάζω</w> <w lemma="tou%3Dto">τοῦτο</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="me%2Fros">μέρος</w>, <w lemma="e%29n">ἐν</w> <w lemma="plei%2Fosi">πλείοσι</w> <w lemma="to%2Fpois">τόποις</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="i%28stori%2Fas">ἱστορίας</w> <w lemma="dh%3Dlon">δῆλον</w> <w lemma="pepoi%2Fhmai">πεποίημαι</w>, <w lemma="polla%2Fkis">πολλάκις</w> <w lemma="a%29phggelkw%5Cs">ἀπηγγελκὼς</w> <w lemma="dhmhgori%2Fas">δημηγορίας</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="sunta%2Fceis">συντάξεις</w> <w lemma="a%29ndrw%3Dn">ἀνδρῶν</w> <w lemma="politikw%3Dn:">πολιτικῶν·</w>

<w lemma="o%28%2Fti">ὅτι</w> <w lemma="d%27">δ᾽</w> <w lemma="ou%29k">οὐκ</w> <w lemma="e%29k">ἐκ</w> <w lemma="panto%5Cs">παντὸς</w> <w lemma="tro%2Fpou">τρόπου</w> <w lemma="tou%3Dto">τοῦτο</w> <w lemma="proairou%3Dmai">προαιροῦμαι</w> <w lemma="pra%2Fttein">πράττειν</w>, <w lemma="nu%3Dn">νῦν</w> <w lemma="e%29%2Fstai">ἔσται</w> <w lemma="sumfane%2Fs:">συμφανές·</w> <w lemma="ou%29%2Fte">οὔτε</w> <w lemma="ga%5Cr">γὰρ</w> <w lemma="u%28po%2Fqesin">ὑπόθεσιν</w> <w lemma="e%29pifaneste%2Fran">ἐπιφανεστέραν</w> <w lemma="tau%2Fths">ταύτης</w> <w lemma="eu%28rei%3Dn">εὑρεῖν</w> <w lemma="r%28a%2F%7Cdion">ῥᾴδιον</w> <w lemma="ou%29%2Fq%27">οὔθ᾽</w> <w lemma="u%28%2Flhn">ὕλην</w> <w lemma="plei%2Fw">πλείω</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="para%2Fqesin">παράθεσιν</w>.

<w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="mh%5Cn">μὴν</w> <w lemma="ou%29de%5C">οὐδὲ</w> <w lemma="proxeiro%2Fteron">προχειρότερον</w> <w lemma="e%28%2Fteron">ἕτερον</w> <w lemma="e%29moi%5C">ἐμοὶ</w> <w lemma="th%3Ds">τῆς</w> <w lemma="toiau%2Fths">τοιαύτης</w> <w lemma="paraskeuh%3Ds">παρασκευῆς</w>.

<w lemma="a%29ll%27">ἀλλ᾽</w> <w lemma="ou%29%2Fte">οὔτε</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="politikoi%3Ds">πολιτικοῖς</w> <w lemma="a%29ndra%2Fsin">ἀνδράσιν</w> <w lemma="oi%29%3Dmai">οἶμαι</w> <w lemma="pre%2Fpein">πρέπειν</w> <w lemma="pro%5Cs">πρὸς</w> <w lemma="pa%3Dn">πᾶν</w> <w lemma="to%5C">τὸ</w> <w lemma="proteqe%5Cn">προτεθὲν</w> <w lemma="diabou%2Flion">διαβούλιον</w> <w lemma="eu%28rhsilogei%3Dn">εὑρησιλογεῖν</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="diecodikoi%3Ds">διεξοδικοῖς</w> <w lemma="xrh%3Dsqai">χρῆσθαι</w> <w lemma="lo%2Fgois">λόγοις</w>, <w lemma="a%29ll%27">ἀλλ᾽</w> <w lemma="a%29ei%5C">ἀεὶ</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="a%28rmo%2Fzousi">ἁρμόζουσι</w> <w lemma="pro%5Cs">πρὸς</w> <w lemma="to%5Cn">τὸν</w> <w lemma="u%28pokei%2Fmenon">ὑποκείμενον</w> <w lemma="kairo%2Fn">καιρόν</w>,

<w lemma="ou%29%2Fte">οὔτε</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="i%28storiogra%2Ffois">ἱστοριογράφοις</w> <w lemma="e%29mmeleta%3Dn">ἐμμελετᾶν</w> <w lemma="toi%3Ds">τοῖς</w> <w lemma="a%29kou%2Fousin">ἀκούουσιν</w> <w lemma="ou%29d%27">οὐδ᾽</w> <w lemma="e%29napodei%2Fknusqai">ἐναποδείκνυσθαι</w> <w lemma="th%5Cn">τὴν</w> <w lemma="au%28tw%3Dn">αὑτῶν</w> <w lemma="du%2Fnamin">δύναμιν</w>, <w lemma="a%29lla%5C">ἀλλὰ</w> <w lemma="ta%5C">τὰ</w> <w lemma="kat%27">κατ᾽</w> <w lemma="a%29lh%2Fqeian">ἀλήθειαν</w> <w lemma="r%28hqe%2Fnta">ῥηθέντα</w> <w lemma="kaq%27">καθ᾽</w> <w lemma="o%28%2Fson">ὅσον</w> <w lemma="oi%28%3Do%2Fn">οἷόν</w> <w lemma="te">τε</w> <w lemma="polupragmonh%2Fsantas">πολυπραγμονήσαντας</w> <w lemma="diasafei%3Dn">διασαφεῖν</w>, <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="tou%2Ftwn">τούτων</w> <w lemma="ta%5C">τὰ</w> <w lemma="kairiw%2Ftata">καιριώτατα</w> <w lemma="kai%5C">καὶ</w> <w lemma="pragmatikw%2Ftata">πραγματικώτατα</w>. —

<head>I. The Third Punic War</head>Perhaps some may ask themselves why I do not, now that I have to deal with a subject of such importance and so momentous an event, display my talent and report the particular speeches after the fashion of most authors who lay before us all that it is possible to say on either side.

That I do not disapprove of such a practice is evident from various passages of this work in which I have quoted both the speeches and writings of politicians, but it will now be made clear that it is not my principle to do this on any and every pretext.

For it is not easy to find a subject more renowned than the present nor ampler material for comparisons;

nor again is anything more facile for myself than such an exercise.

But on the one hand neither do I think it is the proper part of a politician to display his ingenuity and indulge in discursive talk on any and every subject of debate that may arise, but simply to say what the situation demands,

nor is it the proper part of a historian to practise on his readers and make a display of his ability to them, but rather to find out by the most diligent inquiry and report to them what was actually said, and even of this only what was most vital and effectual.

Walbank Commentary

Overview

36.1.1 - 36.1.7

On the function of speeches in history See pp. 44–45 for the reasons which justify placing this excerpt from de sent. first among the surviving fragments of this book in res Italae of 150/49. P. raises the question of speeches in history afresh because the Third Punic War was preceded by much oratory and the discussion of policy in several forms. Some sources record a lengthy debate between Cato and P. Scipio Nasica Corculum on whether <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> should go to war with <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Carthage&groupId=441&placeId=820">Carthage</a> (Livy, ep. 48; Florus, i. 31. 5; Diod. xxxiv/xxxv. 33. 3–6; Plut. Cato mai. 27. 1–2; App. Lib. 69). One set of arguments, probably put forward by Nasica, favoured caution and stressed the importance of a just cause (Livy, ep. 48; Diod. xxxii. 5); P. discusses this aspect in 2. 1–4 (see ad loc.). Further, Nasica is said to have argued that it was in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>'s interest to maintain a metus hostilis in the form of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Carthage&groupId=441&placeId=820">Carthage</a>, either to maintain Roman military efficiency (Oros. iv. 23. 9; Zon. ix. 30), or to prevent the eruption of civil discord at home (Plut. Cato mai. 27. 2 f.; Diod. xxxiv/xxxv. 33. 3–6; Aug. de ciu. Dei, i. 30), or to deter the Romans themselves from excesses against foreign peoples (same sources). Nasica's opposition (but not what he said) is recorded in Livy, ep. 49, Zon. ix. 26, and Ampel. 19. 11. Whether some or all of these arguments were used by him, or are later constructions, has been much debated together with the question (bound up with the genuineness of the record) of how long Scipio maintained his opposition; see especially Gelzer, Kl. Schr. ii. 39–72 (accepting the genuineness of the tradition); Hoffmann, Historia, 1960, 309 f., especially 340 f. (debate unhistorical); Astin, 48 ff., 276–80; Lintott, Historia, 1972, 632 ff. Astin has argued convincingly that the argument based on the risk of civil discord, though it has affinities with arguments in book vi, cannot be shown to have stood in P., and that if it was used it is not likely to have been stressed very hard in that form; the point that an enemy was useful for keeping the Romans on their toes is more likely to have carried weight (cf. xxxii. 13). These debates may have been going on intermittently from the time <milestone unit="page" n="651">[651]</milestone> of Cato's return from his embassy to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Carthage&groupId=441&placeId=820">Carthage</a> in 152 (cf. 2. 1–4 n. on events leading to the war); that P. recorded some of them, through briefly and mentioning only what he regarded as <w lang="el-GR">τὰ καιριώτατα καὶ πραγματικώτατα</w> of what was said, is consistent with the present chapter (cf. 2. 4 n.). For the view that he omitted them deliberately in accordance with his customary suppression of any suggestions of internal conflict at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> (but cf. i. 10–11), see Momigliano, Atti Acc. Torino, 107, 1972–3, 695–7.

Specifics

36.1.1 - 36.1.1

<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">πῶς . . . οὐκ ἐν ἀγωνίσματι κεχρήμεθα</w>:</emph> <w lang="el-GR">ἀγώνισμα</w> is a 'showpiece' (cf. iii. 31. 12 n.), but <w lang="el-GR">κεχρήμεθα</w> needs an object; hence various emendations: Paton prints Mai's <w lang="el-GR">οὐκ ἐναγωνίσματι</w> (but the word is not found elsewhere); Geel proposed <w lang="el-GR">οὐδὲν ἀγωνίσματι</w>, Lucht <w lang="el-GR">εἰς ἀγώνισμά τι</w> (with <w lang="el-GR">ἐτρεπόμεθα)</w>, and Hultsch suggests <w lang="el-GR">κεχρήμεθα τοῖς προειρημένοις</w>. Mauersberger (s.v. <w lang="el-GR">ἐν)</w> reads <w lang="el-GR">κεχρημένοι προφερόμεθα</w>. The sense is clear, but since we do not know what preceded, and since the first lines of an excerpt are especially liable to corruption, the correct wording is irrecoverable. <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τοὺς κατὰ μέρος λόγους</w>:</emph> 'the separate speeches'. <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τοιαύτης ὑποθέσεως . . . καὶ τηλικαύτης πράξως</w>:</emph> the Third Punic War.

36.1.2 - 36.1.2

<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">διατθέμενοι τοὺς? ἐνόντας λόγους</w>:</emph> cf. xii. 25 i 4, <w lang="el-GR">ὀλίγοι . . . καιροὶ πάντας ἐπιδέχονται διαθέσθαι τοὺς ἐνόντας λόγους</w> (where, however, I take the reference to be to statesmen; for a different view see Musti, Aufstieg und Niedergang, i. 2. 1125 n. 21; Societ antica (Bari, 1973), 211–14; below, addenda on xii. 25 i 4–9). <w lang="el-GR">λόγοι</w> are 'arguments', but in § 1 'speeches'.

36.1.3 - 36.1.3

<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">οὐκ ἀποδοκιμάζω τοῦτο τὸ μέρος</w>:</emph> i.e. he does not reject the practice of including speeches. For his views on this see xii. 25 a 3; cf. ii. 56. 10, xii. 25 i 4–8, xxix. 12. 10. About fifty examples of Polybian speeches survive, but the Polybian parts of Livy indicate that many are lost. See for discussion Walbank, Speeches; Polybius, 43–46; Ziegler, RE, 'Polybios', cols. 1524–7 (and the works of Ullrich and Welzhofer quoted in col. 1444). For an analysis of the rhetorical principles followed in P.'s speeches see C. Wooten, AJP, 1974, 235–51. <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">δημηγορίας καὶ συντάξεις ἀνδρῶν πολιτικῶν</w>:</emph> on <w lang="el-GR">δημηγορίαι</w>, speeches before councils and assemblies, see xii. 25 a 3 n. <w lang="el-GR">συντάξεις</w> are written compositions, the work of politicians, often no doubt apologetic or propagandist; cf. xxx. 4. 11, on Astymedes, who wrote and published an <w lang="el-GR">ἔγγραπτον . . . σύνταξει τῆς δικαιολογίας</w>, which P. judges unfavourably.

36.1.4 - 36.1.4

<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">οὔθ᾽ ὕλην πλείω καὶ παράθεσιν</w>:</emph> 'nor fuller material for instituting such a comparison'. P. could be thinking of the debates that preceded the decision to make war (cf. 1. 1–7 n.).

36.1.6 - 36.1.6

<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">διεξοδικοῖς χρῆσθαι λόγοις</w>:</emph> on Timaeus' discursive passages cf. <milestone unit="page" n="652">[652]</milestone> xii. 26 d 6; for restricting the arguments in a speech to what is relevant see xii. 25 i 4–5 (again mentioning Timaeus).

36.1.7 - 36.1.7

<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τοῖς ἱστοριογράφοις</w>:</emph> in contrast to politicians (§ 6). Gelzer, Kl. Schr. iii. 202, suggests that under both headings P. is thinking of himself. For his point here cf. xii. 25 b 1–4. <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">οὐδ᾽ ἐναποδείκνυσθαι τὴν αὑτῶν δύναμιν</w>:</emph> cf. xii. 25 a 5, <w lang="el-GR">ὥσπερ ἀπόδειξιν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ δυνά?μεως ποιούμενος</w>; see also § 1, <w lang="el-GR">ἐν ἀγωνίσματι</w>. 〈 <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τὰ</w></emph> 〉 <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">κατ᾽? ἀγήθειαν ῥηθέντα . . . διασαφεῖν</w>:</emph> cf. xii. 25 b 1, <w lang="el-GR">τοὺς κατ᾽? ἀγήθειαν εἰρημένους, οἷοί ποτ᾽ ἂν ὦσι, γνῶναι λόγους</w>; 25 i 8. Elsewhere P. makes clear that his claim is only to give the true substance of what was said, not the actual words; cf. xxix. 12. 10 n.; Walbank, Speeches, 8. <emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τὰ καιριώτατα καὶ πραγματικώτατα</w>:</emph> 'the most vital and effectual'; so a principle of selection is involved.

Polybius, Histories

Bibliography

Archaeology

Places

Walbank Commentary

Commentary